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Scaling Music Education Technology Through Academic Partnerships

Background

SymphoMe Ltd is an Edinburgh-based EdTech start-up transforming the way music is taught and learned. Much like Duolingo has done for language learning, SymphoMe is pioneering an AI-driven, gamified platform that makes music education measurable, affordable, and accessible.

Private music education is prohibitively expensive, where in the UK, over 50% of music education funding has been cut, further widening the accessibility gap. This is significant, given the well-documented social and psychological benefits of music education.

Its technology uses advanced AI, audio signal processing, and gamification to provide real-time feedback, personalised learning pathways, and exam preparation aligned with global standards

The Journey

Following an introduction via Edinburgh Innovations Student Enterprise team, Interface have helped them navigate and tap into the rich diversity of academic and student expertise.

These collaborations have allowed the start-up to tap into a vast array of skills, knowledge, and expertise across multiple disciplines—from computing and data science to psychology, marketing, animation, immersive technologies and sound design – supporting SymphoMe’s vision of becoming a leader in AI-driven, personalised music education.

University of Stirling – Data Analytics & Psychology

The flagship collaboration has been with the University of Stirling, where SymphoMe main challenge was to harness cutting-edge AI to measure knowledge gaps and automatically tailor learning journeys to support users’ unique needs. They worked with Dr. Sandy Brownlee on data analytics and machine learning and together they developed a data-driven engine to analyse user progress, identify knowledge gaps, and inform the creation of an AI-driven personalised recommendation system—the foundation of SymphoMe’s vision for a “Multimodal Music Teacher.”

This partnership also extended to Stirling’s Psychology students, who explored accessibility and inclusivity in EdTech. Their research provided insights into neurodivergent learners and strategies for ensuring the platform could engage diverse users. Additionally, Marketing students undertook a research on marketing plan and strategic market analysis for SymphoMe.

Impact:

Abertay University – Computing and Ethical Hacking

Students helped convert SymphoMe’s mobile prototype into a functional web version while integrating gamification features for content delivery, exercises and knowledge gap analysis. This additional technical support was crucial in helping develop the concept to a scalable product.

Edinburgh Napier University – Software, Animation & Sound Design

Glasgow School of Art – XR & Virtual Reality

Collaborations explored how VR could create immersive learning environments for music education, positioning SymphoMe at the forefront of next-generation learning experiences.

Company achievements

SymphoMe has:

The Benefits

Company

Academic

The Universities of Abertay, St Andrews and Dundee are co-organising a workshop for researchers from across the region to explore how our inventions and discoveries can be commercialised through the formation of companies (spin outs).

Funded by the Scottish Government, the workshop is part of the Pipeline Flywheel Project, an initiative to foster collaboration across our Scottish Universities, Colleges and Research Organisations that will lead to growth in the quantity and quality of spin outs.

Activity

The day will include practical activity to tease out and develop commercial opportunities that could arise from your work. You will also be invited to contribute your views research commercialisation – how do we build the pipeline, motivate researchers and create successful ventures? The hope is that you will leave inspired to continue exploring your ideas and armed with pointers to funding and support.

The workshop will be facilitated by Cait Murray-Green and Andrew King of Strategic Scientific Consulting.

Who is it for?

People involved in research from

If you are from another organisaiton then contact the organiser.

The event is open to everyone from Early Career Researchers through to experienced Principal Investigators and clinicians interested in commercialising ideas. The event is sector agnostic and suitable for all research disciplines.

If you are unsure whether the event is right for you, contact Elaine Kearney, ekearney004@dundee.ac.uk

Gillian Hambley of Interface will be attending this event

Find out more and book

The Get Set Yeti app is in development, themed around a clan of yeti characters, that allows younger children to understand their emotions, through discovering ‘emotion beasties’, enabling difficult concepts to be put across in an age accessible and engaging way.

Background

Get Set Yeti is a Digital Education business, that specialises in using storytelling and character-based learning to make Growth Mindset accessible to younger children at school and at home.  They aim to level the ‘educational playing field’ by helping children from all walks of life develop the skills to become confident, resilient learners.  They also provide materials for parents to build their confidence and capacity to do the things at home that have an impact on creating solid school foundations in Early Literacy and Early Numeracy.  

Get Set Yeti supports educators and parents to help children develop learning resilience and confidence through building a growth mindset, and through emotional literacy. They offer a range of programmes and resources themed around a clan of yeti characters.  

The company came into existence through recognition of a need in the field and has been developed by its founder Carol Arnott. An experienced practitioner both in Primary and Community Education, Carol employed Growth Mindset techniques initially to develop a rhyming story to help local families struggling with learning confidence. The story of “The Yeti’s Roar” was born, developed into a book which grew into a learning programme that was successfully trialled in several local schools and nurseries in the Dundee area.  

Developing the programme became a passion of Carol’s and with the help of Business Gateway and the Elevator Business Accelerator, where Carol was introduced to Interface, her business began and demand quickly developed to the stage of looking to grow the team and expand into other cities – then Covid hit.  Unable to get into schools due to closures and distancing regulations and with other contracts put on hold it became apparent that digital learning was the way forward.  A new site was built and ‘Get Set Yeti’ evolved and grew. 

The Challenge

Get Set Yeti was created to provide Growth Mindset resources for children under 8 due to the lack of material available. In the educational climate, there was a growing need for children to learn to be more resilient in learning and it was widely recognised that learning to develop a ‘Growth Mindset’ could successfully meet this need. 

Get Set Yeti was interested in developing an app or platform that could help young children understand and process emotions using Growth Mindset to help maintain positive mental health.   

The Solution

Through the Accelerator in Dundee, Carol met Lorna Watson of Interface who identified University of Dundee’s Dr Michael Crabb (School of Science and Engineering) and Dr Alexia Barrable (School of Education and Social Work) who had the required academic expertise to develop an app that could help younger children develop emotional literacy and self-regulation. This initial project was taken forward with a £5000 Standard Innovation Voucher.  

The team at the University of Dundee helped initialise ‘The Yeti Field Guide to Feelings’ app to help children develop emotional literacy, supported by parents and educators.   

Based on the premise that deep in the forest on top of Yeti Mountain the yetis sometimes come across ‘Emotion Beasties’ that have escaped from children in the villages below. Once caught, the yetis learn how to look after them using their special book ‘The Yeti Field Guide to Feelings’.  They learn that caring for feelings takes practise and learn techniques to manage them through online interaction and additional printable activities and resources.   

The app will incorporate: 

This innovation sits right at the heart of Get Set Yeti’s core strategy as it uses process design to help children and families understand difficult concepts and gives them the tools to develop skills to learn successfully using Growth Mindset techniques. 

The Benefits

The Next Steps

Get Set Yeti have transitioned through the restrictions brought about by Covid19, transforming from a localised, face-to-face delivery company to an online-learning portal with international potential.  

Following on from this initial project the relationship between Interface and Get Set Yeti has continued to grow and there have been several more successful student projects/placements for a range of things from marketing to behavioural analysis as follows: 

Due the restrictions brought about through Covid19 Get Set Yeti pivoted to produce a digital version of their material and with the help of Abertay University the company developed a digital marketing strategy to promote their digital offering and transform from a localised business to offer their products nationally and develop a marketing campaign to appeal to local authorities, head teachers, infant teachers and parents. 
 
A successful student placement project with the University of West of Scotland helped Get Set Yeti achieve a targeted marketing campaign appealing to potential clients and partners; utilising social media and other appropriate available channels. 

The University of Stirling undertook some behavioural analysis to help Get Set Yeti understand and develop customer personas to allow them to enter new markets and target their future campaigns for maximum impact.  
 
University of Highlands and Islands students are currently working directly with the Musical Director and CEO to help devise a digital marketing and social media campaign to promote an album of original ‘Yeti Songs’ to enhance the delivery of Growth Mindset learning to younger children and their families. 
 
 

Background

Millport Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) is jointly funded  by Historic Environment Scotland and North Ayrshire Council and aims to preserve the historical features of Millport (Isle of Cumbrae) and reinvigorate it as a seaside and island destination.  The conservation works are supported by an outreach plan aiming to engage local community and visitors with the local heritage and history.

Challenge

One of the aims of the outreach plan was to engage local children with local heritage via a series of face-to-face workshops that would explore the history and heritage of the area, including Scottish culture, language and tradition.

However, due to COVID-19 and the resulting isolation rules for home schooling, Kasia Smith, the Millport CARS officer, needed to develop an alternative to her planned face-to-face activities and had an idea to use Minecraft to engage with the children.  She turned to Mari Findlay from Interface to help her find a suitable academic partner or student group that could develop a heritage themed interactive game that could be used in both classroom and remotely in a home learning environment based on a very modest budget.   

Solution

Mari introduced Kasia to the internationally renowned School of Design and Informatics at Abertay University; Europe’s top-ranked institution for video games education. Supported by teaching fellow Kayleigh Macleod, the project was assigned to games students Claire Monaghan, Fergus Coyne and Romain Bourdon who worked on the project for three months.

Due to travel restrictions, the students were unable to visit the island before they began their work and had to use images and other online resources as their only point of reference.  Housed on the Minecraft Education platform, Cumbraecraft has been designed with eight distinct lessons and is designed to let children explore local heritage landmarks and learn more about their local history.  

Benefits

In addition to enhancing the Curriculum for Excellence – the national curriculum for Scottish schools – Cumbraecraft has demonstrated how games can engage young people with learning about their heritage in a visual, interactive and fun way.  Additional benefits also included contributing to an electronic record of local heritage as well as introducing young people to potential career options in gaming and computer arts.

Depending on the success of this pilot project, the potential is there for implementing this tested and fully evaluated model across other schools within North Ayrshire Council, as well as a package for other conservation projects across Scotland.

Background 

W&J Knox Ltd, based in Ayrshire, is the largest UK manufacturer and servicing agent of Aquaculture nets. The company provides cage nets primarily to the salmon farming industry and on a biannual basis they transport the nets back to its servicing facility for washing, repairing and drying before returning them to the fish farm. 

Challenge 

Aquaculture nets have to be washed regularly to remove the marine plants and animals that attach to the netting restricting the flow of water to the fish contained within.  

Washing the commercial fishing nets from the salmon farming industry produces several hundred tonnes per year of a solid material rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, fish oil proteins and calcium from mussel shells and includes copper which is dried into cake. 

Following a referral from North Ayrshire Council, Interface worked with the company to identify suitable academic support to analyse this waste product and suggest a use for the nutrient rich solid cake produced from the process. The ‘cake’ which goes to an approved landfill site may have value in the nutrients contained within it which could be used to create a new product and thus reducing the volume and cost of the material going to landfill.  

Solution 

The School of Applied Sciences at Abertay University were able to support the company due to their experience in handling such waste materials, extraction of bioactive ingredients and quantification of bioactive compounds.  

Through a feasibility study, funded through a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, the university were able to analyse the waste product and its potential use.  

Follow on Activity 

Following the initial feasibility study, a researcher has now been employed by Abertay University, through the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme (KTP), to investigate how the useful materials can be extracted from the waste cakes. Instead of being sent to landfill, tonnes of salvaged protein and oil will now be turned into livestock feed for the likes of fish, pigs and chickens. 

Company benefits

Academic Benefits

Mari Findlay, Business Engagement Executive, Interface: 

“W & J Knox are a fantastic example of a company who thought they had a nutrient rich waste product that could be used in another format as well as helping to reduce landfill. By collaborating with Abertay University on an initial feasibility study they were able to confirm their initial thoughts and progress to a KTP, which will allow them to produce a valuable protein rich animal feed.”

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.

Background

Yekemi Otaru (founder of YO! Marketing, now merged with Doqaru Ltd) had an innovative idea to use machine learning to identify the marketing activities that generate the greatest impact on business growth. This would result in a world’s first machine-learning marketing algorithm. This was created with collaboration from cyber-security and machine-learning experts from Abertay University.

Challenge

Conducting marketing activities can be a constant challenge for many businesses that are time-constrained, have limited resources, little marketing expertise and a budget that only goes so far. Yekemi’s idea was to design an intelligent solution, based on a data model, of using a machine learning algorithm to identify the marketing activities that generate the greatest impact on business growth.

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides computers with the ability to automatically learn over time without being explicitly programmed. Machine Learning had not previously been used by Marketing companies in this way. 

Yekemi approached Interface to help her find the necessary academic expertise in Machine Learning, Dataset Modelling and Data Mining to solve this challenge.

Solution

After conducting a search across various universities, Interface matched the entrpreneur with Dr Xavier Bellekens, Assistant Professor and Lecturer at Abertay University within the Division of Cyber-Security, where he leads the Machine Learning Research Group. Dr Bellekens was a perfect match for this project as he has a strong interest and extensive expertise in this field.

Abertay University offers extensive expertise in big and small data analytics, machine-learning, critical infrastructure protection, and the Internet of Things (IoT), both on security and the development side.

This collaborative project was set up to develop the intelligence behind Yekemi’s prototype (GO YO), an integrated online platform for marketing purposes.

The project was split into two parts: the first activity was the development of a dataset used to train the algorithm to predict the best routes to create impacts for a business. The second was the evaluation of the algorithm, ultimately leading to a highly intelligent platform that learns with time, taking into consideration the product lifecycle, giving tailored advice and helping businesses to manage the performance of their products in the marketplace, informing action plans and marketing strategies.

Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it to learn for themselves. It is based on learning by example, finding the right algorithm for the task and obtaining accurate results. This is a challenging task which can be achieved only through the assessment and research process.

This project was funded through a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface.

Business benefits

This project provided the former YO! Marketing with a world’s first machine learning marketing algorithm, setting the business apart from other marketing companies in the marketplace, making the decision-making process easier for business owners with limited marketing experience.​ 

Academic benefits

Economic benefits

Yekemi Otaru’s aim with this project was to help businesses with limited marketing expertise grow their business with advisory, planning and performance planning without the large cost outlay of trying multiple marketing techniques. 
YO! Marketing has now merged with Doqaru Ltd.

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.

Background

Droman Crime Solutions Ltd is a collective of Cyber Security specialists covering a range of backgrounds including Police, Defence, Academia, Government, Industry and Business Systems.

The company was set up in Scotland in January 2015 with a mission to use technology to deliver education and raise awareness to areas like cybercrime.

Considering the rapidly changing nature of technology, the company was looking to develop a prototype demonstrator of cyber security training for police officers through games-based learning instead of a traditional classroom-based training.

Challenge

Cybercrime continues to be one of the fastest growing areas of crime in the UK and upskilling police officers in how to respond to and prevent cyber-crime is vital to ensure that Scotland continues to be a safe place to live and do business.

The company was lacking the academic and technical expertise to develop a working demonstrator using game technology and provide evaluation of technology informed learning and was seeking an academic partner to create and develop this new learning tool.

They were looking to create a web based solution that can be easily accessible on a tablet, smartphone or desktop computer to allow flexible learning schedule and can be easily and quickly updated to reflect changes in technology.

Solution

Thanks to the funding from the Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface, Droman Crime Solutions partnered with Abertay University and Police Scotland to deliver this new game-based solution to combat cybercrime.

Abertay University has an internationally recognised expertise and reputation as the UK’s leading university in computer games education and creative arts.  It combines the three essentials for the partner to deliver this prototype: a highly technical domain (cyber security), a state-of-the-art delivery medium (serious gaming) and the assessment of learning required to assess the impact of this technology.

Benefits:

This project will enable a cross-disciplinary co-operation which will serve as a platform to further projects and research in areas of serious games and cyber security.

The Scottish economy will benefit through the transfer of knowledge from a Scottish university to a Scottish business.

Upskilling the Police Service of Scotland in how to respond to and prevent incidents of cyber-crime will lead to Scotland being a safer place to do business and ultimately enable a more resilient Scottish economy.  

Paddy Tomkins, chairman of Droman Crime Solutions, said: 

“Cybercrime continues to be a top-level threat to the UK generally and has the potential to disrupt commerce, public services and international confidence.

“Thanks to funding from the Scottish Funding Council administered by Interface, we have spent over a year working with our partners in Abertay University and Police Scotland to develop this new learning tool.

“Our innovation has the potential to ensure that communities across Scotland are served by appropriately trained, skilled and confident police officers and staff.”

Dr Iain Donald, Lecturer in Interactive Media Production at Abertay, commented:

“We specifically designed this as a game-based solution to the challenge of training thousands of police personnel who might be the first responders to an incident of cybercrime by telephone or scene visit.

“Currently, as evidenced by various inspection reports, UK criminal justice organisations experience significant difficulties in providing mainstream training to large numbers of their operational front-line staff.”

“Interface has helped Abertay bring industry to the classroom. Within the School of Arts, Media and Computer Games we’ve greatly enjoyed the diversity of project, companies and innovative solutions that have enabled us to collaborate with a wide range of Scottish Tech companies.”  

Follow on activity

The project had resulted in both new products and new jobs. Paddy Tomkins aanticipates that turnover would increase and would result in 5 new jobs. In addition, they have invested £100k into R&D.

Additional notes

The project was awarded with the 1000th Innovation Voucher by the Scottish Funding Council administered by Interface.

Droman Director Paddy Tomkins discussing how games can be used for cybersecurity training on the BBC Crimewatch Roadshow 22nd June 2017. 

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.

Background

Founded in the early 1900’s, Bon Accord was a family-run soft drink manufacturer who distributed carbonated soft drinks to households across Scotland until the company ceased manufacturing circa 2000. Using the recognised Bon Accord name, and with a new generation at the helm, the family, led by the great, great, granddaughter of the founder, have re-branded and re-launched Bon Accord soft drinks.

Challenge

Conducting some initial research, Bon Accord was struck by the lack of Scottish all-natural, non-alcoholic drinks available on the market and were looking to fill this gap.

Solution

Interface connected Bon Accord to Food Innovation at Abertay (FIA), who has the technical expertise as well as industry and consumer knowledge to assist Bon Accord in its development of a range of premium, carbonated soft drinks.

Funded by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, the FIA team undertook

Benefits

The company now has a range of three new carbonated drinks that can either be used as mixers for alcoholic drinks or be enjoyed on their own; tonic water, cloudy lemonade, and sparkling rhubarb.  It has also benefited from work undertaken by marketing students at Abertay University who helped it with market research on the rebranding of the company.

“Interface put us in contact with the Food Innovation team at Abertay University. From the outset, the team at Abertay were hugely enthusiastic about the project and their knowledge, expertise and first class facilities allowed us to develop our fantastic range of soft drinks and mixers.” said Karen Knowles, Bon Accord.

“The Bon Accord project was an interesting challenge for the FIA team.  The development of new flavour profiles using natural ingredients which also met with consumer acceptance was achieved after many recipes trials and consumer tests.  FIA was delighted to provide Bon Accord with three initial products to launch onto the market and look forward to working with it again in the future.”  Jennifer Bryson, Food Innovation @ Abertay

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.​

Ivan Wood & Sons Limited is a small, family run business based in Fife.  It is a wholesaler of fruit and vegetables, principally to the catering trade.  It has been developing and growing its processing facility for vegetable preparation, always trying out new ways to extend shelf-life and to provide the best possible product to its customers. 

Challenge

With new legislation coming into force in January 2016, intending to stop the disposal of starch from foods like rice and potatoes going into the water supply and blocking pipes, businesses such as fish and chip shops, fast food outlets, and Chinese takeaways will need to have a mechanism in place to restrict the amount of starch that is going down their drains.

To comply with this new legislation, Malcolm Wood, Managing Director of Ivan Wood & Sons, developed an affordable starch filtration system design so that his business, which processes 30,000 kilos of potatoes a week, would meet the requirements of the new legislation.

Its suitability for broader use, however, soon became apparent, with Malcolm identifying a gap in the market for an affordable filtration system to help other small businesses.

He said:

“When I first started working on this design, I had no idea it was going to have so much potential.”

Whilst developing a working prototype, Malcolm was put in touch with Interface who would be able to connect him to academic experts from across Scotland for further development of the prototype. The connection was established through a referral to Food Health & Innovation Service (FHIS) by Business Gateway.

Solution

After sending out a search to various universities within Scotland, Interface connected Malcolm with Abertay University.  The partnership submitted a joint application for funding and, ultimately, secured a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) from Innovate UK and the Scottish Funding Council.

Regarding his invention, Malcolm Wood says that:

“Although there are systems that exist which do something similar, they are priced far too high for most businesses to be able to afford them.”

“I certainly couldn’t, so I’m really pleased to have been awarded this KTP with Abertay, as it means my invention will be able to help other businesses that would otherwise be struggling to find a way to comply with the new legislation.”

Business Benefits

Dr Jon Wilkin, Senior Food Technologist at Abertay’s food & drink business support service, Food Innovation @ Abertay, said that the KTP

“means we’ll be able to build Malcolm’s model commercially, ensure that it works and also investigate new ways to make use of the starch that’s extracted through the process so that nothing goes to waste”.

He added that with more than 10,500 fish and chips shops in the UK, and an equal number of Chinese and Indian takeaways who will need to meet the new legislation, this is a huge business opportunity for Ivan Wood & Sons.

“The hotel and restaurant trade will also have to adapt, so Malcolm has really hit on a great idea with this model, as there is a genuine commercial need for it,” he continued.

Dr Jon Wilkin, who leads the project with Professor Joe Akuna from the University’s Urban Water Technology Centre, also noted that Malcolm Wood’s business has already been contacted by third parties interested in purchasing the final product.

“We’re looking forward to getting started on this new project,” Jon said.

Following the project the KTP Associate from Abertay University was employed full time by Ivan Wood & Sons Ltd. A second KTP project with Abertay University is on the horizon for Ivan Wood & Sons to investigate how PeelTech could be used for domestic use.

Academic Benefits

The benefits to academia on working on such a collaboration are many:

Company update 2020

Peel Tech units are now being utilised in clearing and collecting algae for medicinal purposes as well as use in the green energy sector and is being trialled in the fish processing sector. 

Awards

Ivan Wood and Sons are now working with the University of Edinburgh on a Resource Efficiency Common Interest Group project looking into how PeelTech can be used in UV water filtration to remove bacteria in the recycling of water from fisheries.